Mayor Pro Tem Kenneth J. Kao

Mayor Pro Tem Kenneth J. Kao is serving his first term on City Council following the March 7, 2017 General Election. Previously, Mayor Pro Tem Kao served for four years on the Traffic Safety Committee (two as Vice Chair) and then two years on the Planning Commission. He is also a Board Member of the Lunada Bay Homeowners Association, having chaired its Summer Concerts Series since 2015.

Mayor Pro Tem Kao graduated from local schools (Lunada Bay Elementary, Margate Intermediate (PVIS), and Palos Verdes High School) before receiving degrees from UCLA (B.A., English Literature) and UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall (J.D., Law). While an undergraduate, he spent a year studying abroad at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

Following his graduation from Boalt, Mayor Pro Tem Kao began his legal career in Washington D.C. through the Honors Program of the U.S. Department of Justice. He would soon thereafter clerk for the late Alicemarie H. Stotler, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He worked at private litigation firms and served for four years as a Deputy Attorney General of the California Department of Justice before forming his own law practice specializing in business law. As extensions of his profession, Mayor Pro Tem Kao is District Chair for the Cal Berkeley Alumni Association's Leadership Award, a Member of the Los Angeles Criminal Justice American Inn of Court, and a former Member of the State Bar of California Federal Courts Committee.

In 2010, Mayor Pro Tem Kao and his wife Alicia, an elementary school teacher, decided to return to Palos Verdes Estates to raise their young family. He is fully committed to doing right by the City in which he grew up and protecting its special character. To that end, Mayor Pro Tem Kao is intent on listening to all resident viewpoints on matters before the City and focusing on the greater good.